Breaking the mould.
The problem with being a trailblazer, as Natasha Jonas continues to discover, is that it is what sets you apart that sometimes gets most attention.
The boxing skills that allowed her to become an Olympian, the talent that allowed her to thrive as an amateur, and which informed her recent decision to turn professional, are not exactly overlooked but neither are they always highlighted as they should.
In the build up to her first pro fight on Friday, and even before its announcement, it has been normal for Jonas to be asked how she juggles motherhood with a training regime which pushes its participants to the brink physically and mentally.
In one sense, it is an absolutely valid line of enquiry because that is her reality but in another it seems an imposition as it is hard to recall too many male boxers being asked probing questions about how fatherhood has impacted on their ability, or otherwise, to prepare for fights.
Jonas’ reaction is two-fold. On the one hand, she maintains her belief that it is only by continuing to prove herself in the ring that attitudes, even the strongest held ones that question whether women should box, will change. On the other, she accepts that until more women take up the sport and establish themselves within in will the novelty value be lost. In the meantime, she intends to make the most of the focus that her gender brings, albeit in the knowledge that what others see as out of the ordinary remains totally ordinary to her.
“I have always been involved in male dominated sports so none of this is new to me,” Jonas tells JOE.co.uk during a break in her preparations for her much anticipated debut against Poland’s Monika Antonik in Newcastle on Friday night. “I played football when I was younger and as I got older boxing appealed more to me so I went in that direction but it never bothered me that I was playing against boys or that I was training in the same gyms as men. I’ve always just set out to be the best that I can be and to prove that I deserved to be there.
“It’s inevitable now that I am I mum that I will get asked about that but I don’t see it as a big thing. The baby is in nursery of a morning and my training routine fits in with that so in that respect I’m just a working mum who happens to do a job that’s different to most mums. It’s not better or worse, it’s just different and even though there are days when training is especially tiring and that can make parenting a little more testing I don’t think there are too many mums or dads out there who won’t be able to identify with that.”
As things stand, the place where her gender causes least curiosity is the gym. Now under the tutelage of Joe Gallagher, Jonas regularly trains alongside the likes of Anthony Crolla and all four of the Smith brothers and her presence among them is so unremarkable that the belief inevitably grows that it is outside rather than within the sport where attitudes still needs to change. “I haven’t come up against any resistance personally but I know that there are those who feel what I do isn’t right for a woman,” Jonas admits.
“But against that I have also had a lot of support. The local and national media has been very supportive and so has the community that I come from. Liverpool is a big boxing city and I have been made to feel a part of that. When I’m at the gym I just go about my business, trying to improve and taking on board the advice of the other fighters, especially the ones who have more experience than me. If there are those who don’t support what I’m doing all I can do is prove my worth and hope that more barriers are broken down in the future.”
Now 32, Jonas’s decision to join the pro ranks has come comparatively late for a boxer and it reverses an earlier decision to retire from the sport. “I know I have a short window because of my age,” she admits. “But I still believe I have the time and the determination to achieve my objective of being the best that I can be. I want to get to the top of the game again and that means hitting the ground running when I get going on Friday. I am fortunate enough to train alongside some of the best fighters in the country so hopefully I’ve been picking up some of their good habits along the way and I’m certainly ready for what’s coming, there’s no question about that.”
Promoter Eddie Hearn has already dangled the carrot of a “super fight” against Ireland’s Katie Taylor should Jonas’s professional career go to plan and should that meeting come to pass it would have the potential to do for the women’s pro game what their bout at London 2012 did for the amateurs. On that occasion, Taylor came out on top in a memorable quarter final contest that provoked the loudest atmosphere recorded at the games as well as inspiring thousands of women to take up a sport from which they had been excluded at Olympic level until that year.
“There’s no doubt that 2012 was a game changer as far as women’s boxing was concerned,” Jonas says. “There was a 60% increase in participation after that and we have now got to the stage where women’s boxing is considered totally normal so that’s huge progress. Katie Taylor has played a big role in that process, both as an amateur and as a professional. In a lot of ways, she has set the standard for others to aspire to and even though I’m not here to be in anyone’s shadow, I take my hat off to everything she has achieved.
“I’m not too thinking too far ahead at the moment, though. For me it’s all about getting that first win under my belt as a professional. I am close to a lot of the Team GB lads and I’ve spoken to them about their experience because I want to be as prepared as I possibly can be. You can’t buy that kind of knowledge and hopefully in the future I’ll be in a position to pass on what I know to any women or men who think I might be able to help them in any way.”
Tickets are on sale now priced £30 unreserved balcony, £40 unreserved tier, £60 reserved floor seats and £100 reserved VIP seats – tickets are available from www.matchroomboxing.com
